Hat stay



Patented Mar. 3l, 1925.

N UNITED ysrarra-s HARRY MUSGILLER; QF BA LAPa TENT oFF-ica. f

Il HAT appiicaeonnied ,my io, 1324. Ysgaralifno. 725,272.

T o all whom t may con/cem:

Be it kno-Wn that AI, HARRY MUsGiLLnR, a citizen oit-the lUnitedStates ot' America, `residing in the city of llaltimore, Stat-e. et -lfllaiylanch have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 4Hat Stays, vof which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to achat package or more particularly -to a stay consisting of spacing and positioning ineaiisvfor packing straw and other stiff hats in a bointhe present devicebeing in thel nature oli' an improvement on that described in the patent to Joseph WT. Weiss, No. 1,109,722, olf September 8th, 1914.

The object of the invention is, as stated iii the previous patent. to reduce the vcost of packing straw and stili? hats by reducing the cost of shipping the empty boxes yand stays, and hence reducing their cost at the factory.

` The previous patent relates Ato a collapsible box and collapsible Ahat stay. The patented package consisted ot ahexagonal or simi-lar boi; elongated in the Vdirection of, the axis', each box being ordinarily of a size and shape to receivea half dozen hats .vitli the brinis and crowns parallel and what may be termed the axis el the hats in alignment. 'The stays or spacing and positioning` means consisted ot a closed circular band intended toen close the crown of the hat, and a tlat` plate of heavy paper or pasteboard fitting the cross-section of the box and having an aperture of the shape and of a little larger size than the. crown. Thel ring or band Which Was permanently l.fastened at the ends to form a ring or loop and of `a short cylin`- drical form. was placed inside the aperture and fastened to it by tongues formed on the plate `which were inserted in slotsjin the band. I

The plates served to position the hats laterally, i. e., to keep vthe edgesofthe'briins 'from rubbingagainst thepsi'des ot the box, keeping them Well out ot contact, andthe bands Which encircled fthe crowns ot the hats served'to space vthem in the direction of the height ofgthe crown or `what' may be termedl the axis of the hat. The tongues referred to were lharmed ontlie plates near the aperture and Were passed through slots inthe paper band to hold Ait in position. AThe patented device Was found.objectionableon account of the 4rubbing ofthe endso 'the tongues against rtlie;hat, in someinstances causing someV slight injury tothe hat-bands and vvthe neighboring .surfacesr of the hat.

Also the cylindricalinember or paper which' encircled fthe croyvn and acted as va spacing' member, i Was a vcontinuous -ringsliaped band which Ain ypacking folded flat.v The -resultingcieases `inthe ring or cylind-ricalvjband were found undesirable vas they made it diferentto asfsenrilile Jtlie stay` and insert t-lie hats and the tonguesdid:ontlie A' band Aor properly perform the ffunctlion of holding theparts. The presentr` invention relates particularly to a' hat stay or positioningandspacingy cu'lties recited, providing a device which -.is improved in vario-us `Ways. :It is of interest to noter that other stays have lbeen made .shippingwhich adds materially tout-lie cost of' packing the liats.-

The present device has the additional advantage that it not only provides a satis- 'factory spacingl and positioningystay .which plates properly'retaintheir position in the means, and overcomes and eliminates thed'if- "1.5 which are quite satisfactory in servingthe does not-'injure the hats, but one Whichuniay to advantage be completely `knocked ldovn and shipped fiat, so that the boxesfand stays complete may be .packedr Wit-li entire eco-ir oiny as to space, thereby 'greatly reducing they cost of shipping.l i

In the accompanying drawing I have shown ahat package nclxudlingfa hat stay yembodying the improvement `of `invention the preferred, yxterm, "illustrating tuvo slightly different.' forms of stay.` *i

In the drayvingfi 'Figure l is avertical `central .section l.illustrating Va hat package including a boXand a hat', stay with the-hats packed there'infin accordance with invention. v v

yFigure 2"is a perspectivel v'ieriv ,illustrating one 'of my hat stays assembled and" ready for use, the same beingof the type used to support tvvo hats o'rfa singlehatvwith an un- Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical central section illustrating the construction of the hat stay, Figure 2, and showing the same with the hats therein ready for packing 1n a box.

Figure 4 is an external elevation of a hat and lhat stay assembled ready for placing in .below the observer, and with the cover removed and spaced upwardly from the box for purposes of illustration.

Referring to the drawings by numerals,

. each of which is used to indicate the same or similar parts in the different Figures, the package as illustrated in Figure l, con'- sists of a box which may be cylindrical or polygonal, the box` illustrated .in Figure A7 being of hexagonal cross-section. The box l referred to is of a cross-section corre` sponding roughly in shape to the outline of the brim of the hats to be packed and slightly larger, so that the brims may be spaced .from the sides of the box to avoid injury.

'The boxl has suitablevend walls or covers r2 at each end, the ends being formed with a flange 8 to fit and enclose theside walls 4 of the box. These may be secured in any suitable manner as by gluing or by means Aof paper strips or stickers or the box` mayV be wrapped with cord, anysuitable and wellknown fastening being available `for this purpose.

`As an important feature of this package is the facility with which the vpacking members, i. e., the box and stay, may be knocked down and packed flat and set up to enclose and protect the hats for shipment, saving large proportion ofthe expense of ship- Aping the boxes and stays to the factory, the Abox itself is necessarily and obviously ofthe knock-down variety, such boxes being disclosed inthe application above cited and at this time Well known to the trade. The end walls or covers 2 as shipped are separate from the side walls `4, which are unfolded or collapsed and packed flat.

The important feature ofthe present invention is the hat stay which has been kimproved as to its details of construction, providing a practical knockedown hat stay l which can be packed absolutely flat without loss of efficiency and can be' assembled quickly, giving a satisfactory'stay Awhich does not injure the hat ortrimming, avoiding the possible dificulties incident to the previous structure. The stay is illustrated assembled in Figures 2, 3 and 4, and knocked down in Figuresk 5 and 6.

The Vstay consists of a brim spacing and protecting member 6 in the form of a flat plate or sheet of pasteboard ,or cardboard, as it is known, having a central opening 7 for the crown and slots 8 at the sides. The crown spacer 9 consists of a flat band or strip of cardboard or pasteboard having temporary or releasable fastening means 10, ll at the ends, and tongues or tabs l2 cut from the paper which forms the band, and spaced apart by a suitable portion of the length of the band to cause them to correspond and enter the slots 8y in the brim spacer when the structure is assembled, as hereinafter described. i j

The fastening means l0 and llat the ends consists of transverse slotsflO extending transversely to the length of the band, and tabs or tongues l1 extending in the direction of the length of the band and adapted to enter the slots l0. As shown, the tongues ll are turned toward the longi tudinal centre of the band. The tongues or `tabs 12 are preferably turned at right angles lto the length of the band, the important point being that (they. are formed on the band and turned outward in assembling, so they dov not contact with the hats.

As already stated, the box and stay are packed flat and so shipped to the hat factory. To pack the hats, the boxes and stays are first assembled. The manner of assembling the box is explained in previous pat-A ents and is well understood, theside wall member 4 being preferably tubular formed to fit the end covers, one of the kcovers is placed over acorresponding end and the parts are secured in any suitable manner as b means of slips of paper coated with mucilage or by gluing, stitching or stapling, or in some instances all of these fastenings may be dispensed with.

To assemble the stay the band 9 is bent in the direction of its length, forming a ring or cylinder, as shown in Figure l2, ywhich operation of bending may b e performed inside the opening 7 in the brim spacer 6, or it may be performed outside, and the crown spacer inserted in the opening after it has beenbent into a ring or cylinder, as shown in Figure 2. The ends are then Vfastenedtogether by means of the slots l0 and the tabs 11, the latter tabs being turned in the form illustrated, toward the centre of the band, though the exact manner of fastening the ends of the band is imniaterial,ftlie important point being that the band is so constructed that it may be packed flat without folding. When `this band is connected at the ends so that it must be folded flat at the ends, and therefore creased at two points in its length, it cannot be easilyl andconveniently assembled, and when assembled, the parts do not maintain the desired relation, making it difficult to insert the crowns of the hats within the bands.

Vhen the ends of the band 9 have been closed as described, the tabs l2, l2 are inserted in the slots 8, 8, completing the assembling of the hat stay. lt is important to note at this point that the tabs or tongues l2 are turned outwardly in tne assembled structure, whereby the chance of injury to the hats by scraping of the hats with the ends of the tabs or tongues l2 is avoided. rlhus one of the important diculties of the prior patented device is overcome, for the scraping of the crowns of the hats packed in the old form of hat stay by the ends of the tongues, is one of the important causes which contributed to its lack of success, the other being the dilliculty incident to using a creased crown spacer. `When the stays are thus assembled, the hats are inserted therein after the manner illustrated in Figures l and 3, the crowns being placed within the crown spacing bands 9 and the brims 16 being parallel to the brim spacer.

The stays may be made in either double or single form or bot-h. Usually a stay ha.v ing a single crown spacer, as illustrated in Figure a, of little more than the height of a single crown, is used at each end of the box, the double crown spacers 9 being used for the four hats between the top and bottom. The hats are ordinarily packed in half dozen lots. It is easily apparent that the hats thus placed in the spacers may be dropped into the boxes either l or 2 at a time, depending upon whether the double or single stays are used. It will also be apparent from examination of Figure l that the crown spacers 9 serve to keep the crowns of the hats out of contact with each other and out of contact with the ends of the box, protecting and spacing them, and that the ybrim spacers 7 position the hats laterally and keep the edges of the brims out of contact with the side walls of the box.

The important features of the invention reside in the structure whereby the fastening members 12 which connect the crown spacers to the brim spacers are turned outwardly, avoiding injury to the hats, and the crown spacer bands 9 are so constructed that they may be packed flat without folding,

having temporary or releasable fastenings l0, 1l at the ends.

I have thus described specifically and in detail a hat stay embodying my invention in the preferred form inorder that `the nature and operation of the same may be clearly understood; however, the specific terms herein are used descrptively-rather than in a limiting sense, the scope of theinvention `longitudinal direction and having separable fastening means to connect its ends, so that it may be packed flat and assembled lby connecting the ends forming a ring which lits inside the aperture in the brim spacer and encloses the crown, the crown spacer hav-4 ing tongues to fit slots in the brim spacer, the tongues being turned outwardly away from the crowns of the hats, the crown spacer being of a width 'greater than thel i height of the crowns of the hats to be packed.

2. A hat stay consisting of a brim spacer inthe form of a flat plate larger than the brim and having an aperture to admit the crown, and a crown spacer in the form of a band which is'flexible in a longitudinal direction and relatively stiftl transversely,

the band having releasable fastening means at'the ends, the length between the fastenings being equal to the circumference of the aperture in the brim spacer, the crown spacer having a width greater than the height of the crowns of the hats to be placedl in the stay and having tongues and means for fastening same to the brim spacer so that they are turned outwardly away from the crowns of the hats.

Signed by me at Baltimore, Maryland, i

this 8th day of July, 1924.

HARRY MUSGILLER. Witnessesz Y PORTER H. FLAUTT,

E. WEHMEYER. 

